WPS Area Highlight lets you add highlight annotations to any region in a PDF page; this guide covers 4 core tasks, with 0 available without membership and 4 membership-related items.
At a Glance
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Core tasks | 4 | Matches the number of rows in the How-to Index |
| Available without membership | 0 | Matches the number of free rows in the index |
| Membership-related items | 4 | Matches the number of membership-related rows in the index |
| Supported file type | Used for PDF annotation and markup |
About This Feature
Overview
Area Highlight is a WPS PDF annotation feature that lets you drag over any part of a page to create a highlighted region. It is useful for emphasizing charts, signature areas, scanned content, or important information near non-selectable text.
Core tasks include:
- Add an area highlight by opening the Comment tab and dragging over the target region.
- Choose a highlight color from Auto, Theme Colors, Standard Colors, Other Colors, or the Eyedropper.
- Change the color of an existing area highlight from the floating toolbar.
- Delete an existing highlight from the right-click menu.
This feature is useful for contract review, drawing markup, scanned document review, and follow-up checks in PDF files.
System Requirements
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating system | A Windows device |
| App version | It is recommended to use the latest version of WPS Office |
| Network | No mandatory internet connection is required for local PDF annotation; internet access is needed for download, installation, and account services |
| Other | You need to be able to open PDF files normally; PDF editing requires the corresponding membership permission |
Download & Installation
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Official download | WPS Office Free Download |
| Post-installation check | Launch WPS Office, open any PDF, and confirm that the Area Highlight entry is available on the Comment tab |
Source: WPS download page
Compare with Alternatives
| Dimension | WPS | Microsoft | Notion | Adobe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability Summary | Lets you add highlights to any region on a PDF page, with multiple color options and support for editing or deleting existing area highlights. | Microsoft Word supports text highlighting, while Microsoft Edge PDF reader supports text highlighting, inking, and text notes. | Google Chromebook Gallery supports PDF annotation with pen, highlighter, and eraser tools; text annotations are not available in the Chrome browser. | Notion supports text highlighting, comments, and PDF import or embed workflows, with a stronger focus on document collaboration and organization. | Adobe Acrobat on the web supports text highlighting and comment management for text-based review workflows. |
| Official Source | — | Apply or remove highlighting; PDF reader in Microsoft Edge | Check, edit & sign PDFs | Intro to writing & editing; Import data into Notion | Add and manage comments |
Advantage: WPS can highlight any page region directly instead of limiting the action to selectable text, and it includes color selection, color changes, and deletion in one workflow.
Overall Conclusion
If you need to mark any visual region on a PDF page directly, WPS Area Highlight is a practical fit for drawings, scanned files, and layout-based review. Microsoft, Google, Notion, and Adobe each provide related highlighting or annotation features, but their workflows focus more on text selection, freehand markup, or document collaboration.
Use Cases
| No. | Scenario | Suitable Users | Main Challenge | How Area Highlight Helps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark key regions in scanned files | Administrative staff, legal teams, archive staff | Important areas in scanned files cannot always be selected as text | Drag over the target page region with Area Highlight |
| 2 | Review drawings or layouts | Designers, engineers, reviewers | Graphic regions or margin content are not convenient for text highlighting | Highlight the target page region directly and apply a clear color |
| 3 | Recheck contract attachments | Finance, procurement, project teams | Signature blocks, amount sections, or notes need to stand out quickly | Use Area Highlight to mark key sections for follow-up review |
| 4 | Organize study or research materials | Students, teachers, researchers | Charts, formulas, or nearby notes are hard to select as continuous text | Highlight the chart or local page region directly |
| 5 | Clean up annotations after review | All PDF reviewers | Existing highlights may need adjustment or removal | Select a highlight to change its color, or right-click to delete it |
Membership & Benefits
Free vs WPS Premium
| Capability | Free | WPS Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Open and read PDFs | ✅ | ✅ |
| Basic PDF features | ✅ Partially available | ✅ |
| Edit PDF files | ❌ | ✅ |
| Area Highlight covered in this guide | ❌ Requires membership for PDF editing | ✅ |
Source: WPS Office pricing page
Recommendations
| Usage Scenario | Recommended Plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Only viewing PDFs or handling basic files occasionally | Free | Suitable for reading and some basic PDF tasks |
| Reviewing, editing, and marking PDF page regions regularly | WPS Premium | Includes PDF editing capabilities used for workflows such as Area Highlight |
How to Subscribe
- Membership entry: Subscribe to WPS Premium
- To compare plans and included benefits, visit the official WPS purchase page.
Source: WPS Office pricing page